Mr Cameron told BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show he had not reached an agreement with Mr Murdoch to pursue policies friendly to his media empire in return for the support of his newspapers.

‘It would be absolutely wrong for there to be any sort of deal and there wasn’t,’ he said.

‘There was no grand deal.’

Connections between the government, particularly the Conservative Party, and News Corporation have been the centre of attention all week after Mr Murdoch’s son James provided evidence at the Leveson Inquiry suggesting Mr Hunt’s office had been in contact with the Murdochs throughout their proposed £8 billion takeover of BSkyB.

Rejected: Jeremy Hunt’s request to appear before Leveson as soon as possible has been turned down (Picture: Getty)

Mr Hunt, who was given the ‘quasi-judicial’ responsibility of ruling on the bid when business secretary Vince Cable was caught saying he had ‘declared war’ on the Murdochs in a newspaper sting, eventually approved the deal but Mr Murdoch Snr abandoned it amid public anger over the phone hacking affair.

The Labour Party has called on Mr Hunt to resign, and although Mr Cameron has so far publicly backed the Cabinet minister, today deputy Labour leader and shadow culture secretary Harriet Harman accused the culture secretary of misleading the House.

Mr Hunt had hoped to have his own appearance at the Leveson Inquiry brought forward so he could present his side of the story, but that request was rejected by Lord Justice Leveson.